Philadelphia building maintenance policies questioned

About Tom MacDonald

WHYY reporter Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the region since the mid-1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post-9/11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the area since the mid 1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post 9-11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

Tom MacDonald is a lifelong Philadelphia area resident who has worked in the area since the mid 1980s. Tom started in commercial radio covering the MOVE standoff with police for WFIL-AM. He was also City Hall Bureau Chief covering government and politics for more than a decade for WWDB-FM.

Tom has been heard on numerous stations in the region during the decade he worked for Metro Traffic, doing news, traffic and weather.

He has won the Associated Press award for his coverage of the protests of the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and a Religious Communicators award for a post 9-11 documentary he did with the late Peter Jennings.

Members of Philadelphia City Council are upset about how the city is maintaining buildings, especially police and fire stations.

Councilman Jim Kenney said he doesn't understand why Philadelphia is spending money on new headquarters for the police and upgrades to the Fire Administration Building when the stations spread throughout the city are in horrible shape.

"I support the project in West Philadelphia for a new police headquarters," Kenney said. "I think it's a good use of the property and it's needed out there, that's a multi-million dollar project but police stations and detective headquarters are in deplorable condition."

Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez said the work needs to be done for many reasons.

"I think that, visually, neighborhoods feel that we have abandoned them and when our public facilities look like that it just adds to the feeling that we are not doing a good job let alone the morale that exists at those firehouses and the police departments," she said.

In response, city officials said they are working hard with both capital and maintenance crews to improve the police and fire facilities, doing more than 1,600 repairs a year.

Your browser is out-of-date!

Some features of this website (and others) may not work correctly with Internet Explorer 8 and below. Click below and we'll show you your upgrade options (they're free). -your friends at NewsWorks. Update my browser now